L’ESCARGOTS
Growing snails can be profitable
F
or most smallholders,
they're just a garden
pest which, like moles
and aphids, one seeks to be
rid of but for those in the
know, garden snails are a
prized resource that can, with
a little care in preparation, be
turned into a gourmet snack.
And, for one East Rand
grower, gourmet escargots
(the French word for snails)
have been a three-year
learning curve as he seeks to
satisfy a market that prizes
snails as greatly as it does such
high-value delicacies as
truffles, oysters and caviar.
For, says Stanley Micallef of
Benoni-based Stanley's Snails,
there's money in molluscs: lots
of it if one has the right
production facilities. And he's
looking for smallholders to
grow the snail industry in
Gauteng.
There are two methods to
growing snails, both of which
are suitable for smallholders:
indoor and outdoor. Indoors,
the snails grow in plastic
crates with a row of small
drainage holes drilled along
one edge. The crates are
covered with loose seethrough lids which allow light
to penetrate but prevent the
has drained from the crates a
snails from escaping.
sprinkling of specially
The humidity (80%) and
o
formulated powdered feed is
temperature (20 C) in the
growing room is controlled by added. Because the snails are
artificially-fed they grow up
way of overhead mist sprays
paler in colour than a snail
and heaters and light is
provided for twelve hours a
Continued on page 32
day by fluorescent
tubes.
The snails spend
seven months from
hatchling to
harvestable size, two
months less than if
grown outdoors
because the indoor
growing conditions
are manipulated to be
optimal.
The crates are hosed
out daily to remove
the snail droppings
and residual slime
which cause stress to
the inhabitants and
after the wash water Ready by Christmas: approximately 100
30
www.sasmallholder.co.za
juveniles in their crate.